2011-04-17 Kent Velo Girls' sportive

...as you say, the East Sussex/Kent area is beautiful.

The forecast this far ahead is notoriously unreliable, but the met office data currently suggests a cool (as cool as two weeks back - which at the time felt positively balmy) but predominantly dry day.
Not the done thing to reply to one's own posts (and not intended as a bump as the thread is second in the forum anyhow), but I just wanted to update the weather forecast: currently it is forecast for Sunday a max of 15C, dry and sunny with a light (8mph) easterly wind ...

did suggest this to the mrs as we arent far from there at all. but as she isnt the biggest cyclist and hasnt been on a sportive and doesnt like the lycra side of things too much. (and seing as I have taken her out for the past two weekends on long (for her anyway)) rides. we are going to the beach if its nice. and im reliably informed that we are going to the beach even if its not nice! Hope it all goes well for those riding and marshalling and Spesh Needs if you could post up a post ride summary/write up im sure ill be able to convince her and my sister to do this next year.
Well, I might not personally have been in a position to do a write up of the ride, but a write up from a participant appeared in Cycling Weekly this Thursday (around page 60). If you can't afford the cash for that, then the same author has her own blog and posted up a slightly different version there yesterday (Saturday).

It seems everyone enjoyed the day and dates for next spring have already tentatively been put forward.

lol thanks Spesh, was hoping to get the mrs into club cycling...not put her off for life! lol i was hopin she wouldnt read about lots of hills...

im sure she might do the shorter route next year. I cant remember were men allowed to do this if they wore pink?

lol thanks Spesh, was hoping to get the mrs into club cycling...not put her off for life! lol i was hopin she wouldnt read about lots of hills...

im sure she might do the shorter route next year.
The club are, I think, going to be running some 'get (back) into cycling' sessions aimed at women this summer. I'll post when I find out more. I think the aim is to encourage people into cycling generally, with a hope some might be interested in club cycling. Other than that, the club has rides most days, with an easy intermediate on Saturday mornings from Hilden Golf Club (next to Hilden station just outside Tonbridge), and a beginners on Monday (if your other half isn't working then). I think that the beginners is the only ride which is supposed to accept flat bar bikes. The members are of all types and are very friendly and sociable.

The hills on the sportive matched the distance: the 20 miler was quite gentle (and shared only a little of its route with the other two routes); the 40 miles had three main uphills (with some nice long downs between); and the 62 mile/100k route, which was the 40 miles + a loop, was a bit lumpy on the loop - but if you follow the links in the first post you should (I think) be able to view a profile of the routes.

I cant remember were men allowed to do this if they wore pink?
Yup, that's the one. Even the marshalls wore pink* ;-)

*I didn't look as good in it as that model :-(